Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
3th May 2016
Thoughtless State
“Thoughtful state”
Man always considers himself to be full of thoughts. To be thoughtless is intriguing for man because he longs to attain a thoughtless state. But, if man were thoughtless, would it be possible for him to live his daily life is to be pondered wisely.
It is obvious that man would not be able to live his daily life without thoughts and that he requires thoughts to be able to live his daily life. Therefore, what could be a thoughtless state is to be pondered wisely.
Firstly, it is wise to understand that thoughts are present only intermittently and not continuously. If thoughts were continuous, there would be no chance for a thoughtless state to exist.
Secondly, it is wise to understand that, if thoughts were continuous, man would become exhausted and would be unable to live his daily life. Therefore, thoughts are intermittent and not continuous for an obvious reason, which means that man is intermittently thoughtless as well.
Thirdly, it is wise to understand that, if the continuous thoughts were not separate from each other, it would be impossible for man to understand what any thought means. Man understands every thought because each thought is separate from the next thought. This implies that man is thoughtless not only intermittently but also between each thought.
Fourthly, it is wise to understand that only one thought can be either spoken or thought in any moment, because it is impossible either to think or speak two thoughts in the same moment.
Since man is thoughtless in between thoughts and intermittently, and only one thought can either be thought or spoken, what could be a continuous, thoughtless state that also enables man to live his daily life is the next to be pondered wisely.
The clue to what thoughtless state signifies is present in the wise understanding of opposites. Opposites are required for any thought to be understood with meaning. Opposites are two thoughts not separate from each other, but joined together as a single thought. If opposites were two thoughts separate from each other, no thought could be understood by a meaning, because only one thought could be thought in any moment and not two thoughts in the same moment.
Therefore, the wise understanding that two thoughts appear as one thought with meaning implies that thoughts are indivisible, but appear divisible when thoughts do happen. The significance of this understanding is that, since life is known by thoughts that are indivisible, it means that life is indivisible.
The understanding that life is indivisible is the thoughtless state or enlightenment.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2016
Editor’s Note:
A challenging article emanating from the wisdom of Dr Shankar. Nevertheless, the thought-less state of mind does have positive appeal for a man or woman in the expectation that it may usher in a degree of freedom from the habitual concerns associated with thoughts and thinking. In the vernacular, though, to be thought-ful is usually associated with quiet consideration.
For mankind this article unveils an entirely new appreciation of thought in that the meaning of a single thought is endowed by the presence of its opposite, which is not separate from it. There is no separation possible, no division in this realisation. Life has no division.
Julian Capper, UK.
German Translator’s Note:
Illusionary communication is the hallmark of personhood. Already in Ancient Greece the seminal philosopher Aristotle called man a zoon politikon, a social creature. Dr. Shankar, in this wise article, makes clear that man’s spiritual dream of complete eradication of his, all too often torturing, thoughts would be incompatible with daily life. After all nobody while being silent within and without has ever done the shopping or has communicated with his fellow man. Of course, personhood based on communication stands open for the enlightened as well, who is considered to be in a thoughtless state; since this article itself, written by an enlightened being, would not be possible without language.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany